


carry it with you to tomorrow

by kurokos



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexual!Akashi, Fluff and Angst, M/M, based off an episode of parks and rec, locked in a room au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-24
Updated: 2015-08-24
Packaged: 2018-04-16 15:24:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4630326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurokos/pseuds/kurokos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>akashi and kuroko are locked in an office room to work out their differences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	carry it with you to tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [seijuro666](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seijuro666/gifts).



> a thanks to my dumb cousin for bullying me into writing this fic after she marathoned parks and rec over the course of less than a week. title taken from 'ashita e tsurete'

It was apparent to Akashi that everyone was sick of it. Every time Kuroko would be in the same perimeter of area as him, he could feel all eyes on them. Midorima would clench the lucky item in his hand just a little bit tighter and Aomine and Kise would stop whatever they were doing to watch the scene closely. It would seem as if the entire office was holding their breath, waiting for the inevitable. Akashi didn’t blame them. Some days he finds himself doing the same thing.

And then the arguments would begin. Kuroko would close the door to Akashi’s office from behind him and would begin to complain. The arguments were about small and insignificant things most of the time, how Akashi’s department always looked like a mess, or that the coffee machine broke too easily. When he first met Kuroko, he never once suspected him to be so talkative.

Akashi prides himself on being a level headed person but Kuroko’s complaints had begun to grate on his nerves to the point where he had begun to argue back.

To the workers outside, the arguments were most likely muffled, Akashi muses, since the door did do its part to block out a good portion of the noises. But he knew that it was only a matter of time before someone tried to end it. Akashi was even expecting it to happen sooner or later.

So he wasn’t sure what was running through his head when he followed Midorima’s instruction to talk to Kuroko into Midorima's office to sign a few papers. Although the last thing he expected was to be locked in with him, and Aomine and Midorima saying that they couldn’t let them go until they resolved their differences.

“Midorima!” Akashi calls out, hitting the door. “Let me out this instant!”

Akashi pulls on the door handle, Kuroko following his lead. It’s the only sound filling the room for the moment, the hits of their hands against the wood and the furious shakes of the handles.

“Aomine-kun!”

"Sorry Tetsu, Akashi,” Aomine says. His voice is muffled from the door but is hearable nonetheless. “But you two have been getting on all of our nerves lately."

Akashi crosses his arms, well aware that Aomine can't see him do it. "And this was your ingenious plan to get the fighting to stop?"

He can almost sense Aomine's shrug. "It was Midorima's idea too."

“I am the only one with keys to the room the two of you are in," Midorima adds on. "And I refuse to let either of you out until you both can solve your petty arguments."

"You're one to talk about petty arguments, Midorima-kun," Kuroko huffs, annoyed. "I overheard you yelling at Takao-kun yesterday for forgetting his lucky item when Scorpio was ranked lowest on Oha Asa."

Akashi stifles a laugh at the statement.

“Shut up, Kuroko. But I think Aomine and I have made ourselves clear. We’ll be back in a few hours. Try not to hurt each other.”

“Midorima-kun, wait!” Kuroko tries again.

It’s not a surprise to either Akashi nor Kuroko when he is ignored.

Akashi exhales and moves away from the door, aware that his attempts are fruitless. “Tetsuya-”

“Please do not refer to me with such informal terms, Akashi-kun,” Kuroko interrupts before Akashi can get another word in, “We are not dating anymore. We are, at this point, only workplace associates. Call me Kuroko.”

Akashi nods, but he can’t help but feel a twinge of pain in his chest when he hears the words fall from Kuroko’s lips. He wonders if it was easy for him to say it. “Kuroko,” he amends, “Do you have your phone on you? I can ask another worker to get a spare key. I’m positive that they wouldn’t only have one custom made key per room.”

“Aomine-kun insisted on borrowing mine for the day. He’s expecting an important call from someone,” comes Kuroko’s reply. “Where’s yours?”

Akashi feels another wave of irritation hit him. “Funny. Midorima said the same thing.”

Kuroko groans. “How long do you think it took them to come up with this idea?” He asks offhandedly.

“Midorima and Aomine working together?” Akashi pretends to think about it, placing his fingertips on his chin. “Weeks.”

Another silence falls over the two of them. Akashi makes a mental note to worsen Midorima’s workload when he got out of the room. “Kuroko. I’ve had a long day and I’m sure yours has been just as taxing. Seeing as it is the only option we have left, let’s just talk.”

Kuroko shrugs, uncaring. “And if I don’t want to?”

“Kuroko please,” Akashi stresses and he holds himself back from placing his hands on Kuroko’s shoulders, “The faster we talk, the faster we’ll be out of here.”

Kuroko scoffs and walks toward the door, futilely trying to push it open again.

Akashi sighs and sits down on the sofa placed in the middle of the room. “If we could at least settle whatever differences we have going on, we can stop arguing in the future.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Kuroko insists, but sits down next to Akashi anyways, heaving slightly at the force he exerted. There’s a few inches between them and Akashi wants more than anything to close the gap.

“I thought you would be smarter than that, Kuroko. There are things that we should clear up. Otherwise, we’ll just keep fighting.”

Kuroko shakes his head. “No, Akashi-kun. There really isn’t.”

Akashi rubs the backs of his neck. He had an inkling Kuroko would be difficult about the ordeal. “What about our breakup?” Akashi asks. It was his first time mentioning their fall out since it happened.

Akashi watches Kuroko tense up, almost involuntarily. “Is there any reason that you’re so eager to get out? It has barely been a half hour since Midorima-kun has locked us in here. Could it be that Akashi-kun can’t stand my presence after all?”

Akashi gives him a look. He isn’t dumb enough to not recognize Kuroko’s attempts at changing the topic away from them, but decides to play along anyways. “That’s not it,” he says frowning, “I just have a busy day tomorrow, and things I have to clear up with Mayuzumi before-”

“Work,” Kuroko cuts off bitterly, clenching his fists in his laps. There’s a sardonic smile on his face. He looks down, refusing to meet Akashi’s eyes. “Of course that’s why you’d be motivated to do anything. I don’t know why I expected something else from you.”

Akashi stays silent for a moment before speaking up, letting the harshness of Kuroko’s tone sink in. “I really think that we should at least _try_ to resolve this, Kuroko.”

Kuroko rolls his eyes. "If Midorima-kun won't let us out," he mutters, standing back up, “Maybe the police will.” He walks away from Akashi and Akashi's eyes widen when he sees what Kuroko is going after.

"Wait, Kuroko, don’t-!"

Kuroko pushes the emergency button. Immediately, the sprinklers in the room goes off from overhead, directly above where Akashi is seated. It doesn't take long for Akashi to get completely drenched. Kuroko is no different. He sits back down, satisfied.

"I'll admit it was a good idea," Akashi says, feeling irked at the water staining his clothing. "Except if you had let me finish, you would have heard me say that it won't work.

Kuroko's smug expression disappears. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that it won’t work. Last month, Kise thought it would be funny to try and play around with the emergency system and it went off. The first time we were let off with a warning but the fire services were not too pleased that people didn’t take their precautions seriously when it continuously happened so they disabled them. Now only the sprinklers go off,” Akashi finishes.

He pulls off the blazer he’s wearing and drapes it over the couch. “Now that you’ve finally figured out that escape is impossible without the key, are you finally ready to talk about things?”

“No.”

“Kuroko please.”

“You are being extremely needy, Akashi-kun.”

Akashi himself doesn’t understand why he’s being so pushy. Had it been anyone else, he would have given up already, accepting his fate and trying to wait it out by mentally calculating everything that he had to get done by the end of the week. All he knows is that this would be the first conversation to Kuroko that has been even close to civil in _months_ and he was not about to let the opportunity be swiped from under his feet. “Even so, I would still-”

“Your consistent blabbering is beginning to give me a migraine. Please quiet down,” says Kuroko, holding the palm of his hand against his forehead for effect.

Silence.

“Kuroko.”

“Akashi-kun.”

“ _Kuroko_.”

“...Fine,” Kuroko says resignedly. “I’ll give you two minutes. You can talk as much as you want, but if nothing is fixed, I’m going to see if I can fit in the air vents.”

Akashi nods. “The fighting started... after we broke up,” he begins, feeling an unsettling in his stomach. “We were fine before that. Nothing was wrong, I don’t think. And when I got promoted, we continued as normal. I’ll admit we were beginning to grow distant, but it was nothing that a few movie nights and dinner dates wouldn’t fix. We still loved each other, so I didn’t see it as a big deal. And then you broke up with me.” Akashi stops talking, opting at looking past Kuroko’s and staring into the wall behind him.

“That’s what you thought happened?” Kuroko questions in disbelief, his face a mix of incredulity and shock.

“How could I think anything else?” Akashi asks, trying not to wince at the waver in his voice and the vulnerability in his words. “How could I when the only thing you did was leave a voicemail on my phone that we were breaking up, that you didn’t want to be in a relationship with me anymore?”

When Kuroko doesn’t reply, Akashi continues. “I tried to figure out what I did wrong. I knew I hadn’t forgotten a big event because I have everything written down. Our anniversary was weeks before, and we had no upcoming dates except for dinner on Saturday. I thought,” Akashi’s breath hitches in his throat. “I thought that you may have wanted more in a relationship,” he says, his voice barely audible. “Something more...physical.”

“No!” Kuroko immediately protests, unclenching his hands and staring at Akashi openly. “I- That’s ridiculous, Akashi-kun. I’ve told you plenty of times that I loved you whether we had sex or not. And I am perfectly okay with your sexuality.”

“Then why?” Akashi presses. He feels himself throwing his pride away the more he talks. “If not that, then why did you break up with me? I thought we were perfectly fine.”

Kuroko mellows at the statement and loosens his body. He leans back against the chair. “If I’m being honest, you were the perfect boyfriend. You treated me well and you loved me. You were perfect,” he repeats. “But... when you were promoted to a new branch of the parks and recreation department, you were thrown into a work schedule that didn’t include me anymore. You made new friends like Hayama-san and Nebuya-san. At first I was okay with that. You still came over after work and Aomine-kun and Kise-kun were a pleasant distraction for when you couldn’t. Midorima-kun even dropped by sometimes to tell me whether or not it was my lucky day or not.”

Kuroko pauses for a moment to laugh sadly.

“But then, the next week Aomine-kun came to tell me that he was transferring to your department. Kise-kun and Midorima-kun came later to tell me the same thing. Even Murasakibara-kun showed up. By the end of the day, I didn’t recognize anyone anymore.”

“Kuroko I-”

“And then,” Kuroko continued. “You kept pushing our dates back, and you started talking to me less.” Akashi watches with a clenched heart as Kuroko wipes at his eyes roughly. “We would go days without talking and I was just so sick of it. So I called you and asked you if you would meet me during work in my office. And-”

“And I told you I was busy but when you insisted I said I’d come around after I talked with Mayuzumi,” Akashi says slowly in horror. He had completely forgot that Kuroko had told him, the memories resurfacing from some abandoned crevice of his brain. After Mayuzumi had left, Kuroko was the last thing on his mind.

Kuroko sighs shakily. “I waited in my office for hours. Aomine-kun dropped by frequently to see whether or not I had left the room yet. We still talked, although less than before. I didn’t leave until I got your call telling me that you wouldn’t be able to come over that weekend because there were things you still had to go over with Mibuchi-san. You forgot.”

Akashi feels something in his stomach drop. He remembers making that call, all the while feeling an itching in his fingertips that he was forgetting something.

“I’m so sorry, Kuroko,” Akashi says, “I stood you up. I’m so sorry.”

“And the next day, I broke up with you,” Kuroko finishes quietly.

“What were all these arguments about, then?” Akashi asks. “I’m starting to get the idea that you didn’t really want to complain about the horrible style of my office.”

Kuroko chuckles, but Akashi can’t help but feel that it sounds emptier than it ever did before. “I decided that if you weren’t going to notice me as your boyfriend. I would get you to notice me in another way. If... If you couldn’t love me, I’d get you to hate me.”

“I’m sorry to inform you that you're efforts wouldn’t produce much results.” His gaze softens, taking in all the parts of Kuroko he hadn’t had the time to admire in so long. “I could never hate you.”

The responding smile is shaky.

“Why did you ask me to meet you, Kuroko?” Akashi angles his head slightly to gauge Kuroko’s expression better. “The day before you broke up with me, what was it that you were going to talk to me about?”

“It’s not really that important. I asked you completely on impulse, actually. I was just feeling alone and...” Kuroko’s voice trails off.

Akashi furrows his brows. “Really, Kuroko? It obviously was important enough for you to want to break up with me the next day.”

“It’s not important,” Kuroko repeats.

Akashi sits in silence, gears turning in his head, until mouth falls open in realization. “By any chance, were you perhaps going to ask if you could get hired into my department?"

There’s no reaction from the other male.

“Kuroko...”

Kuroko nods once, but it’s enough to make Akashi want to collapse.

“You must have been so lonely, Kuroko. How can I make it up to you, Kuroko? I’m so sorry. I left you all alone.” The words spill from Akashi rapidly and he’s not sure how to stop them. “I deserved-”

Soft hands cover his mouth before he can get a word out. “It’s okay,” Kuroko says before removing his hand. “I forgive you.”

Akashi stares at him.

“I love you,” he blurts out, voice trembling. “I know we broke up but I still love you.”

Kuroko looks at him, surprised, before a soft gaze takes over. He used his hand to rub away any lingering tears threatening to escape. “I love you too, Seijuro-kun. I never stopped.”

“ _Tetsuya_.” Akashi stands and reaches over to pulls Kuroko up towards him, encircling his hands around Kuroko's waist. He drops his head on Kuroko's shoulders as he feels Kuroko gasp softly. Akashi holds on until Kuroko’s body relaxes against his one of Kuroko's hands come up to card his fingers through Akashi's hair. Their clothes are still slightly damp but at the moment, neither of them seem to care. "I'm sorry," Akashi whispers again. "I'll do anything to make it up to you. I swear."

Kuroko hums. “You’ll do anything?”

“Yes.”

“Then how about, when we get out of here, you take me to dinner?"

Akashi lifts his head and smiles. "Sounds like a plan."

**Author's Note:**

> ending: that's the site midorima and aomine come to see when they finally unlock the door an hour later; akashi and kuroko cuddlng and talking about life  
> a personal hc that i shoved into this fic:  
> \- akashi is asexual in this fic because i am insatiable when it comes to akashi being asexual  
>   
> feedback of any sort would be appreciated <3
> 
> my tumblr: [asexualakashi](http://asexualakashi.tumblr.com/)


End file.
